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Setback for Hunter Injured By Cheney Shotgun Pellet Moves and Brings About 'Minor Heart Attack'

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 February 2006, 12:00 CST

By Brian Knowlton

The 78-year-old attorney injured by Vice President Dick Cheney in a hunting incident in Texas suffered what a hospital spokesman called a "minor heart attack" Tuesday after shotgun pellets became lodged in his heart muscle. "Some of the birdshot appears to have moved and lodged into part of his heart, causing atrial fibrillation and what we would call a minor heart attack," said Peter Banko, the administrator of Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in Corpus Christi, north of the ranch where the shooting took place. After doctors detected an irregular heartbeat Tuesday morning, they performed a cardiac catheterization, a procedure in which a tube is threaded from the groin area up to the coronary artery to check for or clear out blockages. "The good news is Mr. Whittington has a very healthy heart," Banko said. He said there were no plans for further surgery. Only a day earlier, Banko had said of Whittington, "He's doing wonderful." The latest development cast the story in darker tones. Whittington's injuries had at first been described as relatively light, and hospital spokesmen had suggested that he would be able to leave within a day or two. On Tuesday, they said they would keep him at least an additional week. The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, had even made light of the incident earlier in the day, in an apparent effort to divert attention from the administration's daylong delay in reporting the incident. He joked to reporters that he was wearing a bright orange tie, like the color of the protective clothing hunters wear to avoid being mistaken for game, in case the vice president dropped by. But later, during a regular news briefing, his tone turned somber. He rather sternly sought to steer reporters away from the subject. "If you all want to continue to focus on this, you all can spend your time on it," McClellan said grimly. "We're going to keep focusing on the pressing priorities of the American people." He added curtly, "I'm moving on." Between the two appearances, the White House, or at least Cheney's office, had learned of the setback to Whittington, though McClellan did not mention it. Cheney's office released a brief statement Tuesday, saying that the vice president had learned shortly after noon of the complications and had watched part of the televised briefing from the hospital. "The vice president called Mr. Whittington and spoke to him," the statement said. "The vice president wished Mr. Whittington well and asked if there was anything he needed. The vice president said that he stood ready to assist." It was the first formal statement from Cheney's office on the incident. It made no mention of the vice president's role and offered no explanation for the shooting. "The vice president said that his thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Whittington and his family," it said. The sheriff's office in Kenedy County, Texas, said in a statement Tuesday that it was "fully satisfied" that the incident, at a ranch owned by the family of the former ambassador Anne Armstrong, had been "no more than a hunting accident."

It said that its investigation showed that neither alcohol nor misconduct had been involved in the incident. The statement added that Whittington had corroborated Cheney's account, which was that Whittington, after breaking away from a small hunting group to look for a downed quail, had come up behind Cheney without announcing his presence. "Another covey was flushed and Cheney swung on a bird and fired, striking Whittington in the face, neck and chest at approximately 30 yards," or 27 meters, the report said. The Texas authorities said Cheney was guilty only of having failed to purchase a $7 stamp to permit hunting of upland game birds, and they issued him a warning. The White House said he immediately sent a $7 check.

The downturn in Whittington's health apparently would not affect Cheney's legal vulnerability unless the aging attorney were to die. Under Texas law, death would require the opening of a grand jury investigation. Hunting safety experts say Whittington would have been wise to announce himself, but they added that the shooter always bears ultimate responsibility for avoiding other people. No one has said that the shooting was anything but accidental.

McClellan was verbally battered Monday by reporters, who expressed incredulity that the White House had taken so long to announce the shooting and then left it up to Armstrong to do so in a phone call to a local paper.

The U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Pamela Willeford, was also part of the hunting party. After the shooting, Whittington was treated at the ranch by Secret Service men with Cheney, then transferred to the Corpus Christi hospital. After two days in the intensive care unit, as his health and spirits appeared to be improving, he was moved Monday to a transitional unit. He was back in intensive care Tuesday evening.

Banko, the hospital administrator, noted Tuesday that Whittington had not suffered a heart attack "in the traditional sense." The metal pellets had irritated the heart muscle, but there was no blockage and there had been no external symptoms. Dr. David Blanchard, the hospital emergency room chief, said that Whittington seemed unlikely to face long-term health problems. "He will have a full life," he said, "barring other complications." Banko and Blanchard said it was impossible to know whether the pellet could later shift within Whittington's body. But an Emory University cardiologist, Dr. Laurence Sperling, told CNN: "Whenever there is something lodged in the heart itself, this is never a trivial condition." An incident report filed Monday by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department includes a sketch depicting the injuries as covering a triangular area roughly bounded by Whittington's sternum, left shoulder and chin. The incident form cites only one "contributing factor" in the incident: "Victim covered by shooter who was swinging on game." The report described the weather at the time as sunny and clear; it said both men had been outfitted in blaze orange caps and vests and brown trousers. Cheney's shotgun, according to the report, was a 28-gauge Perazzi, considered a fine Italian weapon, made in Brescia. He was using 7 1/2 shot. The incident has drawn extraordinary scrutiny for an incident that locals in south Texas, and bird hunters elsewhere, say is not all that uncommon.

Source: International Herald Tribune

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